What is realplay.exe?

The .exe extension on a filename indicates an executable file. Executable files may, in some cases, harm your computer. Therefore, please read below to decide for yourself whether the realplay.exe on your computer is a Trojan that you should remove, or whether it is a file belonging to the Windows operating system or to a trusted application.

Description:Realplay.exe is not essential for Windows and will often cause problems. Realplay.exe is located in a subfolder of "C:\Program Files"—mostly C:\Program Files\Real\RealPlayer\.
Known file sizes on Windows 8/7/XP are 26,112 bytes (66% of all occurrences), 208,941 bytes and 14 more variants.
It is not a Windows system file. The program is not visible. The program is loaded during the Windows boot process (see Registry key: MACHINE\Run, Run, MACHINE\RunServices).
Realplay.exe is able to monitor applications.
Therefore the technical security rating is 43% dangerous, however you should also read the user reviews.You have the option to do the following:

If realplay.exe is located in a subfolder of C:\, the security rating is 60% dangerous. The file size is 204,845 bytes.
The program has no visible window. The software listens for or sends data on open ports to a LAN or the Internet. It is not a Windows system file.
Realplay.exe is able to monitor applications.

External information from Paul Collins:There are different files with the same name:

"RealDownload" is not required to run at start up. Download manager. Available via Start -> Programs

"realplay lptt01" definitely not required. Variant of the RapidBlaster parasite (in a "RealPlay" folder in Program Files). It is not recommended you manually uninstall RapidBlaster but use RapidBlaster Killer - see here. Note - this is not RealPlayer which can have the same executable name

"Realplayer One" definitely not required.

"RealTray" is not required to run at start up. System Tray icon for RealPlayer. If you subsequently start RealPlayer manually it adds itself back to the start-up list. You can stop this from happening by right-clicking on the tray icon and disabling StartCenter via Preferences

Important: Some malware camouflages itself as realplay.exe. Therefore, you should check the realplay.exe process on your PC to see if it is a threat. We recommend Security Task Manager for verifying your computer's security. This was one of the Top Download Picks of The Washington Post and PC World.

Score

User Comments

Eats up huge amounts of CPU memory, even when I'm not using it. Considering removing the program. Had the worse time working on my computer while this thing hogged up memory. Lisa

This is an adware (similar to a virus), if it takes up a large percentage of your CPU, I strongly recommend you ask whichever anti-virus program you are using to move it to the virus vault. Naughty shrink

Is sometimes listed twice in Windows Task Mgr. suspicious! crabby

It's part of RealPlayer. It has some irritating processing leak or something. My Quad core processor is sitting at 25% all the time because of this. Try updating RealPlayer to the most recent version. HexZyle

It seems that there is some error with Realplayer that causes it to in some cases randomly spike you CPU and eat up massive resources. Not sure what causes it.

CPU is on 100% because of this. Sometimes my laptop turns off itself. I think this s... is the problem. girl

Best practices for resolving realplay issues

A clean and tidy computer is the key requirement for avoiding problems with realplay. This means running a scan for malware, cleaning your hard drive using cleanmgr and sfc /scannow, uninstalling programs that you no longer need, checking for Autostart programs (using msconfig) and enabling Windows' Automatic Update. Always remember to perform periodic backups, or at least to set restore points.

Should you experience an actual problem, try to recall the last thing you did, or the last thing you installed before the problem appeared for the first time. Use the resmon command to identify the processes that are causing your problem. Even for serious problems, rather than reinstalling Windows, you are better off doing a repair of your installation, or in the case of Windows 8, executing the DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth command. This allows you to repair the operating system without losing data.

To help you analyze the realplay.exe process on your computer, the following programs have proven to be helpful: Security Task Manager displays all running Windows tasks, including embedded hidden processes, such as keyboard and browser monitoring or Autostart entries. A unique security risk rating indicates the likelihood of the process being potential spyware, malware or a Trojan. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware detects and removes sleeping spyware, adware, Trojans, keyloggers, malware and trackers from your hard drive.